Just Like Him
by FanFictionFantasy
Summary: What happens when Mullet Fingers meets a girl that's exactly like him in almost everyway, possibly better? Could he be jealous? Or is it something more? MulletxOC, RoyxBeatrice. Please Read and Review! WILL BE UPDATED VERY SOON!
1. Ally

Alright everyone, it's finally up. I'm still re-writing so I'll be taking down some old chapters too. Hope you like this one better, the beginning is mostly the same.

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It was a cold, foggy winters morning in the town of Coconut Cove. The time was four a.m. The sun had barely risen. No one was out of bed yet. Well. . .almost no one. Over at the oval track near Trace Middle School, a teenage boy was running laps around it. This was no ordinary boy. For starters, he was wearing nothing on his feet. Perhaps this was common among the teens in Coconut Cove during the summer, but certainly not during late November. Secondly, the boy was also dressed in shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. Most kids in Coconut Cove went out in sweaters and jeans during the winter. But not this boy.

Everyday since March, this boy had come to the track and run thirty laps every morning. However he would often change the number of laps depending on his mood. On this particular morning, he was feeling energetic. He figured an even hundred would do him some good.

Keeping count was the boy's stepsister, who was dressed in a heavy jacket, sweat-pants and winter boots. In one hand was a stop watch and in the other was a mug of hot chocolate. She counted eighty-nine as the boy passed he again. She wasn't delighted about her stepbrother showing up at her home at three-thirty every morning, but he'd been trying to get in better shape ever since a nasty run-in with a dog about a year before.

Another unique thing about this boy was that he did not live at home. His mother had shipped him off to juvenile detention a year ago and he'd broken out and gone into hiding. Where he lived was known only by he and his stepsister.

He had barely broken a sweat as he finished his ninety-second lap. A few minutes later his stepsister called for him to stop as he reached one hundred. His time was thirty-two minutes, eight seconds. He looked a little disappointed at this news. He'd been hoping to break his previous record.

He was still panting as he walked his stepsister home. When they got there she told him to be careful and went back inside; as she always did. He watched her to the door then turned and hurried off down the street. The sun was almost completely up now. Cars began to fill the streets. The boy scowled. Coconut Cove was so beautiful in the morning. Once cars began filling up the streets it just ruined it. They caused so much pollution. He hated them. However, he'd learned when he was younger that he couldn't win a fight against cars, though he still wished people would open their eyes to what they were doing to the environment.

Some people stared at him as he jogged down the busy sidewalk. He'd been worried at first that the people recognized him as the boy that broke out of juvie, but his stepsister reminded him that they hadn't bothered announcing his escape on the news and that it was probably just because he was jogging around barefoot in the winter. He was used to getting stared at now. Some people would give him dirty looks, some ignored him and some even waved after recognizing him as the boy who saved the owls.

A year ago, he, his stepsister and her friend Roy had stood up to a pancake company called Mother Paula's and saved a family of burrowing owls from being killed during the construction of one of their buildings.

He snuck up to the produce store, which had a stand full of apples outside it. He ran by quickly and grabbed an apple. Breakfast. He ran to the harbor and sat down on the wharf with his feet soaking in the icy water. To him, the water wasn't very cold. His body was used to the frigid temperatures during the winter. This _was_ his third winter as a runaway and nothing could be worse than the blizzard last year.

Last December, snow had begun plummeting from the sky. It had gotten so cold that his feet had gone numb. He'd ended up sneaking into people's basements and sleeping there during the nights. Amazingly, he'd never gotten caught.

By the time he'd finished his apple the sun was finally up and he decided to head back to his home before the students from Trace Middle began walking to school. He didn't have any desire to be seen by them. He hurried to the junkyard, but instead of going into one of the old vehicles there he continued into the forest behind it. He walked for a while until he came to an old R.V. It had no wheels and was pretty much merged with the ground. With a little help from his stepsister he'd made it fit for living. He went inside and collapsed on the bed. He was exhausted. He lay on his back and looked around at everything he and his stepsister had put up to decorate the R.V. In a frame on the wall was a newspaper clipping of him, his stepsister and her friend standing hand in hand with Mother Paula to save the burrowing owls from being buried. Likely one of the happiest days of his life.

Another clipping was a very small article about his escape from juvie. It didn't even say they wanted him back. Likely because Lonna, his mother, couldn't be bothered to pay to have a search party go out and look for him.

He smiled to himself as he visited his memories. He drifted off to sleep and woke up a few hours later to hear a voice calling to him. He peered out the window. It was his stepsister's friend, Roy Eberhardt. He was looking up at the R.V.

"Napoleon? Napoleon Bridger Leep are you in there?" He called.

The barefoot boy's heart sank as he lay back down on the bed and ignored Roy. He had no desire to see Roy anymore. Not after what happened a few months ago. Not since Roy betrayed his trust, not to mention his friendship.

A few minutes later, Roy gave up calling for his friend and left. The boy felt guilty as he watched Roy walk sadly off through the trees. He lay down yet again and drifted back sleep.

The barefoot boy's stepsister, Beatrice Leep, had a rather interesting day at school. It happened during lunch hour. She been walking through the cafeteria with her lunch when she heard some grade eight girls talking to each other.

"Well _I _heard he runs a hundred laps around the track every morning in his bare feet!" One of them said as a matter of factly

"That's nothing, I heard he _never _wears shoes, even when he isn't running track."

"I heard he doesn't have a home." Said another.

All the girls did a sad "awe". "How could someone like him not have a home? He's _dreamy_." Said the first girl.

Beatrice thought she was going to puke.

"Well _I _saw him." Said one "I fell off my bike and almost got hit by a car but then came out of nowhere and saved me."

"No he didn't, Lily, that was Sheldon Stiffly, Amy saw it."

"I heard he has to steal his food." Said another girl.

"That's so sad. Hey, I know, after school, let's go make some cookies and put them somewhere that he might find them!" Said the girl named Lily.

"Great idea! Maybe we can convince him to come and live with one of us too!" Said the first.

Beatrice rolled her eyes. He'd never even set foot in Trace and already he was the most popular guy among the girls. Suddenly, the bell rang and she hurried off to class.

Roy Eberhardt sat at the dinner table eating silently.

"Not hungry tonight, son?" His father asked over the newspaper.

"I guess." Said Roy dully.

The truth was, he'd truly believe he was going to see Beatrice's stepbrother again today. Garret had told him that a kid in his English class knew the sister of one of the girls on Beatrice's soccer team, who said she saw a barefoot, nut brown skin, blond boy going into and old R.V. in the woods near the junkyard. He'd let himself get his hopes up.

"You aren't being bothered by bullies again are you, honey? We don't want another Dana Matherson incident." Said his mother.

"No, I'm just a little tired." Roy lied.

"Hm, then straight upstairs to do your homework after dinner so you can go to sleep early." Said Mrs. Eberhardt.

"Okay." Said Roy, who figured he could do with a nice sleep.

He finished his dinner quickly then went and flew through his homework. After that, he got into bed. He couldn't sleep however. His mind was still wrapped around Beatrice's stepbrother. Was he alright?

_Of course he was, otherwise Beatrice would probably be asking me for help._ Roy answered himself.

It wasn't until about three-thirty in the morning that Roy finally fell asleep.

And at that very moment, Beatrice and her stepbrother were walking past the Eberhardt home.

"That's Roy's house." Beatrice informed her stepbrother, who was jogging backwards beside her.

He whistled. "Fancy." He said uninterestedly.

"Do you know of any other place's you can train like this in the mornings?" Beatrice asked.

"Nope. Why?" He asked.

"I think someone's seen us. I heard some girls talking about you at lunch yesterday." Said Beatrice.

The boy shrugged. "Probably just some other kid." He said casually.

"How many other kids do you think run a hundred laps in bare feet on that track during the winter?" Beatrice asked irritably.

Her stepbrother was silent, obviously putting some thought into his answer.

"None!" Beatrice snapped.

"Oh. . .I knew that, I was just testing you." He said with a playful smile.

Beatrice laughed and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" He said , rubbing his arm.

Beatrice's stepbrother ran another hundred laps that day and finished ten minutes faster than the day before.

"How the heck did you get so fit overnight?" Beatrice asked as they walked back together.

"Guess all hard work's been paying off." He said with a shrug.

"You doing anything interesting today?" Beatrice asked.

"Not really. I was thinkin' bout going over to that river in the woods and catching a few mullets, gotta keep my talent up." The boy replied, flexing his fingers.

"Wow, exciting." Said Beatrice sarcastically.

He grimaced. "And sitting in a cramped classroom listening to old geezers give lectures is better how?" He said with a laugh.

Beatrice smiled. "Alright, you win. But still, don't you ever get tired of this life? Don't you ever feel like you wanna go home?" She asked.

"Hm, lemme think about that. . .uh _no!_ I hate it there. C'mon Bea you know that!" He said.

"No, not home to Lonna, I mean. . .just home. You know, warm bed, cozy living room?" Beatrice asked.

"I probably would if I knew what is was like. Are you forgetting? I ain't never had stuff like that! It was usually the icy basement or the attic when I came home before Lonna and Leon got married. Compared to that, I like it way better out here." He said.

Beatrice let out a sigh. She wasn't getting through to him at all. They walked on in silence until Beatrice got home, where she bade him farewell and went inside.

The boy watched her all the way to the door, then as soon as she closed it behind her he sped off down the street. He ran past the owl preserve on the corner of East Oriole and Woodbury, into the woods and all the way to the crystal clear river. The water was moving slowly today, he could see the mullets swimming happily along.

The cool water felt nice on his ankles as he waded into the river. Then he knelt down and looked up the river. A whole school of mullets were swimming toward him. He picked his target and got his hand in position. It came closer, and closer, then splash!

"Dang it!" He said, as his target swim away in fear.

He was right, he was getting rusty at this. He tried several times more, though only caught two. He cursed loudly as his twelfth attempt failed.

"Your hand movement has to be more of a jolt, you're doing it too smoothly." Said a voice from behind him.

He jumped up and turned around. A tall, dirty-blond haired girl was standing at the river bank. She had brown framed oval glasses and was wearing jeans and a hoodie.

"How would you know?" He asked her.

She got down on her knees, looked up the river, then with a small splash, caught a mullet with ease.

"What? Did you think you were the only person in Coconut Cove who could do this?" The girl asked him smugly.

"You're pretty good." He said, getting up.

"He says that _after_ I catch a mullet better than him." The girl said with a smug smile.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Allison, but you can call me Ally. What's your name?" She asked.

"Don't got one." The boy said, climbing out of the river.

Ally raised her eyebrow. "_Really_?" She asked him as though he was a child "That's interesting."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Well it's not really interesting, I just say that a lot. Why don't you have a name?" She asked.

"I don't need one. Not where I live." He said.

"And where do you live?" Ally asked, looking around as though there was a house hidden somewhere.

"Out here." He said bluntly.

"In the river?" Ally asked skeptically.

"No, I mean out here. Everywhere. The woods, the streets, everywhere. The wild." He said.

"_Oh._ I see. So you've run away from home, then?" She asked, sounding very interested.

"Yup. And I ain't been back since." He said.

"And may I ask why?" Ally said, looking at him.

"My mom doesn't want me and I don't wanna be around her." Said the boy casually.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. How long has this been going on?" She asked.

"Couple years."

"Hm. Oh! Look at the time, I am _so_ late for school. Um, fun talking to you, bye!" Ally said, leaping up and running off.


	2. The Mullets

Chapter 2 everyone! Enjoy!

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Another foggy, chilly morning. The blond boy was running down the sidewalk alone; Beatrice was absent today as she had an early morning soccer practice. He was running at his fastest pace, trying to get _some_ exercise if he couldn't do his laps. He always followed one motto when he was running.

_Keep your eye on the safe spot and don't look back._ Those words buzzed around in his head as he ran down the cold sidewalk.

He suddenly stopped and rubbed his leg. He'd been getting a lot of cramps lately.

"Why'd we stop?" As voice asked suddenly, causing the boy to jump.

"_Don't_ do that!" He said.

"Do what?" Ally asked, for that's who it was.

"Scare me like that! Warn me before you come up behind me, kay?" The boy said, rubbing his aching leg again.

"_Oh_. Well you could've payed attention, I was running beside you for at least ten minutes." She said.

The boy looked up at her with a slight look of shock on his face. "You kept up with me?" He asked.

Ally did a shrug. "Yeah, what's the big deal?" She asked.

"No one's _ever_ been able to keep up with me when I'm running." He said, clearly impressed.

"Hm, is that a hint of jealousy I sense?" She asked him with a playful smile.

"What? No. I'm just a little surprised, that's all." He said.

She rolled her eyes. "Boys." She muttered "so sup? What's wrong with your leg?"

"Argh, stupid cramps again. I've been getting them a lot lately." He said.

"You aren't drinking enough. You should bring a bottle of water along when you run." Ally informed him.

"I guess."

"How do you get food and stuff? Not to mention fresh clothes." Ally asked as they began to walk.

"My step-sis takes care of that. Brings me a week's worth of food every Sunday, fresh clothes every other week and sneaks me in for a shower when Lonna and Leon are out for their Friday night date." He explained.

"_Oh._ Interesting. So you and your step-sister are close then?" Ally asked, eying him over her oval glasses.

"Yup. 'Bout as close as a normal brother and sister I reckon." He said.

"That's cute. So does she call you by something or are you just referred to as 'he' or 'you'?" Ally asked.

"She calls me Mullet Fingers." Said the boy.

"_Oh_, that makes sense. It's because you can catch mullets with your bare hands, right?" Ally asked.

"Yup." Mullet Fingers replied.

"Very cool. So tell me: what does a fifteen-year-old runaway do for fun during the day?" She asked him.

Mullet Fingers grimaced. "This would be it." He said.

"What? Walking with random people and exchanging facts?" Ally asked.

"Yup, but usually I'm alone." Mullet Fingers said.

"Well you certainly lead an exciting life." Said Ally sarcastically "Don't you take care of those owls anymore?"

"Nah, there's some guy who works at the preserve that does- hey, how'd you know about that?" Mullet Fingers asked.

"I did a little research." Said Ally.

"You mean on that inter-thing?" He asked.

Ally rolled her eyes. "Yes, I typed in blond kid that catches mullets in Coconut Cove in on Google and got three thousand results." She said.

Mullet Fingers looked a bit confused. Ally laughed and said "I'm kidding. My dad has this weird thing about keeping old newspapers and I went through them. I found the one about you and your friends saving those owls."

"Oh." He said.

"Are you still friends with Roy and Beatrice?" She asked him.

Mullet Fingers's expression suddenly turned hard. "Beatrice, yeah." He said through gritted teeth.

"What happened to Roy?" Ally asked.

"No comment. Hey, you wanna see something really cool?" He asked her.

"Okay." Ally said.

Mullet Fingers led her through the woods and all the way to a small lagoon, possibly a small lake. There were thousands of mullets swimming around in it.

"This is where they lay their eggs, see? When they're old enough they swim down the river and into the ocean." Mullet Fingers explained.

"Wow! I never knew this place was here!" Ally exclaimed.

"Like no one does. Not even Beatrice knows about it." He said.

"Then who's that?" Ally muttered, pointing to two men standing a little ways away.

She and Mullet Fingers crouched down behind a bush and listened in.

"And I want you to make very sure, Mr. Brannit, that no one interferes. Build the dam, drain the lake then fill it in with cement and you're home free from there. I am fully aware of your previous 'accidents' while you were working and I assure you, Mr. Brannit, Amer-Coast will not be as tolerant. Make sure it gets done." Said a man's voice.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Rinlae. I won't let you down, sir." Curly Brannit's voice came.

"Very good. The less we have to correspond the better you'll find we get along. Now I must be going, good luck." Said the voice of the other man.

The two walked off as some men planted a sign in the ground. It read:

**Future home of Coconut Cove's Amer-Coast hotel.**

Mullet Fingers turned to Ally, but was shocked to find that she had disappeared. He looked around.

"Ally?" He muttered.

No answer. He rolled his eyes, got up and hurried off; already working out a plan to stop the construction.

Beatrice walked home after school with her good friend, Tina Patel that day. Tina was a tall, slim, long dark haired Indian girl from Beatrice's soccer team. Tina was one of the few people that Beatrice had confided the identity of her stepbrother to.

"I honestly don't know what to do anymore. I could leave him alone, and go one worrying about him for the rest of my life. Or I could keep pushing him about it until we can work something out." Said Beatrice.

Tina hesitated. "Well, I don't think you should push him, that'll just make him angry. Have you considered talking to _him_ about this?" Tina asked.

"Of course I have, he and I have always spoken our feelings to each other. But every time I try to bring it up he always makes a joke out of it, like I'm being silly." Beatrice said.

"Well maybe you should sit him down and make him understand that you're really serious about this." Said Tina.

Tina was always the best person to come to for advice.

"Hm, maybe I should. Oh, speak of the devil, look who's coming." Said Beatrice as Mullet Fingers ran toward them.

He panted when he finally reached them. "Hey." Said Beatrice.

"Hey. Hi Tina." He added, nodding to her.

"Uh, hi." Tina replied.

She'd met Mullet Fingers on several occasions. "What's the matter?" Beatrice asked.

"You aren't going to believe this." He said.


	3. Mullet Fingerss Jealousy

**ATTENTION EVERYONE: (Update as of June 4th, 2008). I am very sorry this story has been inactive for about a year. I plan to update it soon. Please bear with me...I will be re-writing the first three chapters and then getting the story back on track. This chapter is not new, I just needed to post this update for everyone to read. Chapter 1 Rewritten will be up by the end of the week!**

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"I can't believe this, I just can't believe this." Mullet Fingers said, pacing the room back in his R.V. after showing Beatrice and Tina the lake and the sign.

"Who knows? Maybe all the mullets will swim away." Said Tina hopefully.

"Eggs can't swim." Mullet Fingers said darkly.

"Oh. . .right." Said Tina, hoping Mullet Fingers would've bought it.

"Well what are you planning on doing then?" Beatrice asked.

"Well first, I'll mess up anything they've set up to build a dam. Then I'll kick down that sign. And if they're stupid enough to park a car there then I'll hot-wire it and drive it into a tree. I'll hop out at the last minute though." He said with a mischievous smirk.

"You can't!" Exclaimed Tina.

"That's crazy." Said Beatrice.

"You'll kill yourself." Tina said.

"Not to mention cause Lonna extreme happiness." Said Beatrice.

"Alright, alright fine." Said Mullet Fingers, that Lonna comment seemed to have stung him "Then what do you suggest we do about it?"

"I think that first, we should let as many people know about it as possible. Tina and I can tell the whole soccer team and we can span out from there." Said Beatrice.

"Yeah and just who the heck is gonna give a dang about mullets?" Mullet Fingers asked sharply.

"That's exactly what you said about the owls, and look how many people turned out to support us? It's better than risking your life, Mullet." Beatrice said.

"Kay, fine. Go ahead and tell everyone. But what am I supposed to do? You and Tina are like the only people I talk to these days." He said.

"You can just sit tight. We'll take care of it, don't worry." Said Beatrice gently.

"Fine, but do it quick okay? You know I hate being left out of things like this." Said Mullet Fingers.

Beatrice and Tina said good-bye and left for their soccer practice. Mullet Fingers curled up in his sleeping bad and started thinking about what would happen next. Would Beatrice be right? Would they have all kinds of support?

_Probably not. Everyone thought the owls were cute, fish won't matter_. He thought to himself.

Tina and Beatrice were walking through the woods together.

"Do you really think he's going to sit tight like that?" Tina asked.

"Oh, I hope so. I don't want him getting hurt." Said Beatrice.

"I'd be more worried about him being arrested, isn't he still wanted for breaking out of juvie?" Tina asked.

"Yeah but Lonna's too lazy to follow up on the investigation, the cops dropped it eventually." Beatrice replied.

Suddenly, Roy ran up from out of nowhere. "Hey Beatrice, hey Tina." He said, out of breath.

"Hey, what's up?" Beatrice asked.

"I need you to tell Mullet Fingers something for me." Roy said.

"I already told you, cowgirl, I'm not your guys's messenger. If you've got something to say to him then go tell him yourself." Said Beatrice.

"One, he won't talk to me and two, even if he would, I don't even know where he lives now. Besides, this is really important." Said Roy.

Beatrice crossed her arms. "Alright then, you tell me first and I'll decide how important it is." She said.

"It's about that place he always used to take me to try and show me how to catch mullets! They're building a hotel there, he needs to know!" Roy said impatiently.

"He already knows." Said Tina.

"And you aren't going to encourage him to do anything about it, Tina and I are taking care of everything." Said Beatrice firmly.

"He knows?" Said Roy, clearly disappointed.

"What's wrong? I thought you wanted him to know." Said Beatrice.

"I did but. . .I kinda thought that if I was the one to tell him, he'd forgive me for what happened." Said Roy.

"Roy, it's going to take a lot more than telling him some mullets are in danger to make-up for what you did. You really hurt him." Said Beatrice.

"I told him I'm sorry, what more does he want from me?" Roy demanded angrily.

"He got sent to juvie again cause of what you did! You really expect sorry to fix that?" Beatrice exclaimed.

"No." Roy mumbled.

"It's going to be a long time before he forgives you, maybe even never. I'm sorry, Cowgirl, but we've got to get to soccer practice. See ya." Said Beatrice as she and Tina hurried off.

Roy tried to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.

"You okay?" A voice asked.

Roy looked up. A tall blond girl with brown oval framed glasses stood in front of him, looking worried.

Roy quickly wiped his eyes with his arm and said "Yeah, I just got something in my eye."

She smiled at him. "_Oh_. That makes sense. Hey listen, you're Roy Eberhardt, right?" She asked.

"Yeah." Roy replied.

"Then you know Mullet Fingers, right?" The girl went on.

"I know who he is, yeah." Said Roy.

"Do you know where I can find him? It's really important." She said.

"Sorry, he and I aren't really on speaking terms anymore. . .I haven't seen him in months." Said Roy sadly.

"Oh. Well, if you do see him can you tell him that Ally's looking for him? Thanks!" She said without waiting for an answer, and the ran off.

Roy felt even worse now. He turned around and began walking to the owl preserve. When he got there, however, he hid behind a bush as he heard a very familiar voice.

"I said back off."

"What's the matter, Nature Boy? Too scared to take on mean old Cody?" Another familiar voice snarled.

Roy recognized this voice from school. It was Cody Rinlae, Dana Matherson's successor as the meanest kid in school.

"I ain't scared of you, I'm just givin' you a chance to save yourself before I get angry." Said the other voice.

Roy knew this voice too. He suddenly felt a surge of excitement.

He peered through the bottom of the bush to try and make out who was there. He saw the tattered jeans and skateboard shoes of Cody Rinlae and three of his buddies. The were circling someone. Then he saw another pair of feet, and he knew who it was right away. Dirty, bare and nut brown; it could only be one person.

"I'm only sayin' it one more time: back off." Mullet Fingers's voice said dangerously.

Cody and his buddies chortled. "And just what's a sissy kid like you gonna do to us? Ties us up in a net? Or maybe set some alligators loose on us!" Cody sneered.

Mullet Fingers threw a punch at Cody, who dodged it and hit him in the back.

"Smooth one, Nature Boy." Cody said with a snort.

Mullet Fingers tried again but one of Cody's buddies knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the side.

"What now, Nature Boy? No little owls or crocs to save you now!" Cody said coldly.

Suddenly, just as Roy was preparing to leap out of the bushes and save the day, Beatrice and Tina showed up. Extremely disappointed, Roy knelt back down.

"What're you doing to that kid, Cody?" Tina demanded, for Cody was her boyfriend.

"Nothing, Tina, just taking care of him." Said Cody, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Yeah well, your mommy told us to send you home so why don't you let us handle him?" Beatrice said.

"You two? Take care of _him_? But. . .you're girls." Cody said trying to hold back laughter.

"And just what does that have to do with anything?" Tina asked through gritted teeth.

Cody laughed and hurried off with his friends. Beatrice helped Mullet Fingers up.

"Honestly, Tina, what do you see in him?" Beatrice asked darkly.

"Our parents are friends, they kinda push it." She said.

"Cody and his thugs don't know you and I are related." Beatrice informed her stepbrother.

"What happened to soccer practice?" He asked.

"Cancelled. What happened to staying at the R.V. and letting us handle things?" Beatrice asked.

"I wasn't doing anything! Geez, can't I take a walk?" He raged.

Beatrice and Tina giggled and took him to get some dinner.

Later that night, Roy was taking a bike ride down by the harbor. He wished he could go back in time and change things. He'd made a huge mistake and, as a result, he'd lost one of his best friends.

It happened four months ago. Mullet Fingers had gotten another injury, he'd been bitten by a fairly poisonous fish out in the water. Fortunately, Roy and Beatrice found an old antidote for it and avoided him having to go to the hospital. It took a couple of days, however, and during those few days he was in excruciating pain. Roy was shaken by this, anyone who had seen Mullet Fingers during those few days would've been. So, having no desire to ever see Mullet Fingers in such pain again, Roy decided to take action.

First, he started pressing Mullet Fingers, saying it was unsafe out there and he needed a home. He and Mullet Fingers ended up getting into a huge fight. In the end, Roy did the only thing he thought possible to keep Mullet Fingers safe. He went to the police and told them where Mullet was hiding. He was arrested and taken to juvie, where he lasted three days then broke out.

Roy tried to apologize to him, finally accepting that Mullet Fingers could take care of himself, but the boy refused to speak to him and disappeared. Roy felt awful.

He still felt awful as he biked down the harbor, which glowed orange in the sunset.

It was nighttime now, Mullet Fingers was creeping through the woods, toward the lake with the mullets in it. Stray branches scratched his arms and legs, but he didn't care. His mind was set on saving those mullets. When he got there, he found that it was pitch black. No moon tonight, meaning no light. First, he saw some sort of marking sign attached to one of the trees. It was above the river, but he was pretty sure he could reach it if he waded in a bit. He did so, and found the water oddly thick and soft. He didn't care though, he was too busy trying to grab the sign. He couldn't reach it. Partly because he couldn't jump.

"You've got no idea what you're standing in, do you?" A girl's voice came.

"Where did you come from?" Mullet Fingers asked.

The girl standing by the river was Ally. A beam of light suddenly came from her black figure and was shined on him, and revealed that he was standing knee-deep in wet, almost dry, cement.

He groaned. There were two wooded dams around either side of the section of river he was standing in.

"Hold on, I've got a rope here." Said Ally, pulling a long, thick rope out of her bag.

She threw it to him and began pulling, trying to get him out. She did so with alarming ease.

"Thanks." He said, letting out a huge sigh and lying down on the ground.

"_You_ need to be more careful. That was why I've been trying to find you all day, I had a feeling you'd end up in there somehow." Ally said.

"What're you doin here?" Mullet Fingers asked.

"Same thing you're doing. Saving the mullets, Mullet." She said.

"Oh." He said bluntly.

"Yeah, and that isn't a marking sign, I put that there. I put signs all over the place." She said.

Mullet Fingers got the idea that Ally and Beatrice would get along well.

"So lemme get this straight: you can catch mullets with your bare hand, run faster than pretty much everyone in the whole town _and_ you care about what happens to smaller animals that can't protect themselves?" Mullet Fingers asked.

"Yup." Said Ally.

"Wow, you've really got it all." Said Mullet Fingers, getting to his feet.

"Where're you going? Don't you wanna hang out a little longer?" Ally asked.

"No, I've. . .uh. . .gotta meet someone. . .somewhere. Bye." He said before running off.


End file.
